The Tangled Web
by Thorntons
Summary: Jane suspected there was more to Madeline Hightower than met the eye but why was she so important to Red John? That was the burning question... had she discovered a secret organisation and how did Red John fit in with this? Originally a one shot to Red Queen - now extended through to Scarlet Ribbons.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** I thought Aunjanue Ellis was brilliant in this episode - great actress would have loved to have seen more of her.

Disclaimer - I do not own the Mentalist - I wish I did.

* * *

A day in the field with Madeline Hightower had definitely piqued Jane's interest in her, there was decidedly more to her than met the eye. Fiercely intelligent, direct and more than a tad ruthless Hightower was nothing like the usual pen pushing career cop, she was equally at home in the field as she was playing the political game.

The rumour mill was in overdrive about her; Jane filtered the more prurient aspects of this whilst garnering the salient information about her, after all information was currency no matter how tawdry.

La Roche was constructing his best case against Hightower - the link between Howard and Todd Johnson being too strong to ignore - he was just following the evidence trail there was nothing personal about it. The evidence conveniently seemed to be stacking up against her but it all seemed just too obvious, an agent as capable as Hightower would surely have covered her tracks better, Jane could not help but feel she was being framed but by whom and why?

Hightower nervously stubbed out her cigarette as Jane approached; she had clearly been La Roched and was in no mood to be mentalised so he played it light just advising her to tell La Roche the truth. There was an undercurrent to all this that made him feel very uneasy.

When Lisbon's late night research had revealed the link between Montero and Johnson his unease intensified, either Hightower was with Red John or she was being set up either way he had to get to the bottom of this.

Having ascertained the fingerprint evidence would lead to Hightower's arrest, he swiftly took her out of the game and so it was that he found himself in the attic with a shotgun pointed at Madeline Hightower...but not for long.

She quickly turned the tables on him, he was impressed and a little bit afraid – looking up the barrel of a shotgun with her piercing eyes looking down on him was intimidating to say the least, the minx had well and truly fooled him. This re-affirmed his feeling that he was dealing with a formidable operator.

"So Patrick, it appears we have a problem" she said drily.

"I would certainly say I have one Madeline and you appear to have the upper hand." Resistance was futile he would have to try and talk his way out of the situation.

Hightower considered her options then wryly smiled before lowering the gun, having reasoned that shooting the mentalist would serve no purpose and he might yet be an asset, anyhow she kind of liked the guy.

"Patrick don't try anything stupid now – you know you won't get the better of me. Let's talk" she said calmly.

Jane could not help but admire her cool, pulling himself up muttering "Jeez Madeline, did you have to be so rough?" he looked across to see Hightower shaking her head at him with a rueful smile on her face.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on Patrick?" she asked.

"I would say you know exactly what is going on and more - assuming you are not Red John's man, which I am fairly certain you're not, someone is going to an awful lot of trouble to frame you. I'm guessing there is a lot more to this than just protecting Red John's mole."

He paused then stared her in the eye "Tell me Madeline – who are you really?"

"I think you mean what not who" she enigmatically replied.

"OK, what are you and don't say a single Mom trying to do her best – we both know you are a lot more than that "Jane responded

"Well, I know – you can only surmise and why should I tell you anyhow, I have more pressing problems I'm about be arrested for a murder I did not commit."

Jane had at least worked that bit out "I have a plan for that – you may not like it but I think it will work but before we go any further you need to sort your domestic arrangements out, then I will fill you in."

Hightower made the necessary arrangements as Jane outlined his plan to her – she acquiesced without further ado as she could not think of a better option.

So they resumed their conversation banking on at least half an hour without interruption.

"So Patrick how do you want to play this?"

"Well seeing as time is at a premium, I'll start and feel my way in – I am guessing that somehow you have uncovered something that affects Red John."

"Not that I know of, well not directly anyhow."

"That suggests you have unwittingly stumbled on something that you may not realise the significance of."

"Well, I would not say stumbled."

"Now is not the time to be coy Madeline" he observed before the penny dropped "You are running some sort of covert operation?"

There was a barely perceptible nod so he continued – "Within law enforcement?"

Another nod followed - "Just law enforcement or beyond?"

"You're getting there Patrick" she acknowledged.

"Time is moving on Madeline – care to elaborate?"

"There are bad apples in any organisation – you just have to keep weeding them out as you find them but over the last year we have begun to suspect that these are not just individual rogue operators but that there may be an organisational element to this including the judiciary and high ranked city officials."

"Umm that makes sense" Jane conceded.

Hightower carried on "in too many cases suspects are intimidated or disappear, evidence is compromised and there seems to be a criminal intelligence network as efficient if not more so than our own – all too often key information gets disseminated before we even have time to act on it.

Patrick you must have wondered why Red John is always one step ahead of us – perhaps there is a network of spies or the computer systems have been compromised, we are not entirely sure at this stage."

"But why the CBI – why here and now?" Jane enquired.

"Law enforcement takes it very seriously when its own people are taken down on its own territory. After Rebecca Anderson killed Bosco and she was subsequently poisoned, it was decided that something had to be done. This was considered to be part of a larger investigation and not necessarily a Red John investigation; I am sorry Patrick, we really were concentrating on the bigger picture trying not to get bogged down in specific cases. With Minelli's departure a convenient vacancy cropped up and I was airlifted in to run the department alongside my ongoing operation which was a slow burner."

"Who else knows about it – Bertram?" Jane enquired.

"No, for all I know he may well be part of the problem – a small handpicked group of trusted people have been silently gathering information off radar."

"Officer Howard was one of them?"

"Yes Rance was" she acknowledged. "We got too close but you have to understand we were operating in a climate of fear – no-one and nothing was as it seemed. Sometimes you just need to reach out for human contact and Rance was a good man.

You should think about that Patrick, no man is an island – you and Lisbon could hardly be closer, the office scuttlebutt already has views on that. I know you have eschewed such matters until you have avenged your family's death but sometimes feelings creep up on you by surprise – I suspect Lisbon may be ready even if you are not."

Jane shrugged his shoulders none of that was news to him but it was hardly pertinent at this moment, so he did not dignify it with a response.

He persisted "What was Howard investigating when he was killed – can you think of anything that could be relevant to Red John?"

"Rance had been following up on the tampering of security footage, he suspected that the systems were being tampered with at will to hide the movements of people – maybe he was indiscrete in his enquiries or perhaps he recognised someone on the footage, either way he was taken out before we had time to talk."

Jane recalled how easily the security footage had been tampered with when Bosco was murdered and this seemed an entirely logical line of enquiry. Jane trusted no one outside his team, hell even now he did not trust Hightower completely, he knew he was only being told what was absolutely necessary.

Knowing time was moving on he tried to concentrate his efforts.

"How high up the tree does this network go? "

"We don't know – at this moment it is still a theory but one I firmly believe in" Hightower responded. "Whether there is an embryonic secret organisation or it is a less formal arrangement of favours, where people become beholden to each other, I cannot say but there is an all pervasive feel to this - friends in high and low places would be my guess."

"This would certainly explain how Red John has access to so much and why you are being targeted – who else knows?" Jane persisted.

"Patrick – you of all people should understand I can't tell you specifics, secrecy on the ground is paramount the other agents don't even know who else is working on it, everything is strictly on a need to know basis but I will tell you some out of state Feds are involved in analysing the data we collect to see if they can establish any patterns. We have to assume that everything is compromised until we can prove otherwise."

Jane took this on board grimly – he had assumed as much, he would have to talk to Grace about one of those thingamabobs and start scanning his rooms and car for bugs. It may be worth laying down some false trails in his attic, he had no doubt it was visited on occasion.

They heard the approaching footsteps and assumed their agreed roles. Hightower leant forward and whispered "Patrick – trust nothing and nobody apart from Lisbon. Assume the worst; the walls do have ears – hell someone might be listening right now. I am only telling you this in case they get me, I would not have told you otherwise. Do not try to contact me – I will contact you if needs be."

Later that night Jane recovered Hightower from La Roche's car boot, despite her entreaties to involve Lisbon in the search for the mole Jane insisted no-one should know. They parted with a brief peck on the cheek from Hightower, whose thoughts were now solely on evading Red John.

Jane was contemplating what he had learned today about both Red John's mole and the bigger picture – the web of intrigue that Hightower painted certainly resonated with his own observations. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of familiar footsteps on the stairs, he smiled in anticipation of some friendly verbal jousting. However having established Jane was feeling no ill effects from his adventures and quickly deflecting his flimflammery, Lisbon got straight to the point.

"Cut the crap Jane – what is going on?"

My dear Lisbon, I have barely said a word – how can I possibly cut anything?"

"Hightower – you know what I mean."

"If I knew what you meant, I would not be asking the question" he responded obtusely.

"Some mentalist hey, Jane I know you are involved in this. For what it is worth I don't believe Hightower did anything but it is not for us to pervert the course of justice."

"Unless the course of justice is already perverted" Jane grimly responded looking hard at Lisbon, he was surprised to see Lisbon was not particularly perturbed by that statement.

"I've been doing some research" she started ...

"I've told you about that Lisbon – it's time people started doing some research on you my dear" he quipped.

"Stop flannelling Jane, I'm serious I've been looking over Hightower's files – very impressive they are too.

You have to ask why a woman like that ended up doing this job. Moreover the closer you look into her file you start to hit roadblocks, there are too many dead ends - I am sure Hightower is not what she seems."

With a sense of panic Jane sat up sharply; she never ceased to amaze him. He knew she was a fine detective but had not expected her to latch on so quickly. "Lisbon – what have you done. Do you have any idea what you are getting into?"

She looked him straight in the eye "Obviously not, but clearly you do. Spill the beans now."

"Lisbon I am telling you – drop this no good will come of it."

She stood her ground "Firstly you are not my boss and I am an officer of the law, it is my job to investigate."

He raised his hands by way of apology "Lisbon I implore you – please don't carry on with this or you will bring unwelcome attention to yourself and all my efforts to protect you will be in vain.

I can't tell you any more, I made a promise and anyhow it puts you at risk the more you know but I will say this everything you believe in may be turned upside down before long, nothing is as it seems. The walls may have ears" he said wafting his hands meaningfully at the surroundings. "Apart from routine investigations, we need to take all but the most general discussions outside the office."

He looked affectionately at her and said "that might necessitate spending a bit more time together outside the office – I know it's a sacrifice but I'll get over it."

"You are not out of the woods yet Patrick Jane and since when have you protected me jackass? It's me protecting your sorry hide normally.

However I get the general drift, it's too late to follow this up now but I will have answers – you have to decide whether to give them to me or I'll continue to find them out regardless of the consequences. I won't involve the rest of the team but you have yet to convince me there is a real danger and that this is not your general paranoia."

Jeez these women were hard work he thought - whoever said they were the weaker sex?

"So how has the Hightower business gone down with everyone?" Jane enquired hoping to change the subject.

"It's been kind of weird actually not how I expected; Bertram even resorted to reciting some little ditty he knew."

Jane's ears picked up at this "ditty?" he repeated.

"Yeah, La Roche said it was Blake but it meant nothing to me" Lisbon replied.

Jane was wide awake now, this was getting interesting. "In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors." he said enigmatically.

Lisbon looked at him curiously, "Blake" he responded - she shrugged her shoulders assuming it was just another Jane-ism.

She started to leave before turning to look at him with a smile on her face – "You know I'll expect feeding if we're spending more time together."

Jane lay back closing his eyes feeling unexpectedly comforted. "Of course you will – goodnight Lisbon."

 _ **A/N**_ _The Blake quotation is considered to be one of the influences behind Jim Morrison's naming his band the Doors_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 -The Tangled Web**

Lisbon was being hounded by La Roche, he was lurking.

He seemed to appear out of nowhere like some ghostly apparition - pale and flaccid he moved noiselessly around the building. Now he had taken to turning up in the field finding whole new ways to annoy her. The guys just smirked at her frustration as she deflected his questions - Jane took particular pride in her performance despite wincing at her forthright rebuttals.

Ever since her spirited defence of Hightower she herself had been the subject of La Roche's attention. When he started asking about Hightower's kids, she finally blew her top at the misogynistic creep culminating in Lisbon being temporarily demoted.

It was liberating not being responsible for Jane and she even tacitly encouraged him with his schemes but she kept forgetting she was not running the operation; it was ingrained in her to take command so she was pleased to be back at the helm before long.

The upshot of all this was Lisbon felt it inappropriate to pursue the Hightower links just then, La Roche already felt she was overly sympathetic to someone he regarded as a straightforward felon and if he found out she was researching her, he may well read something into that would not help either of them.

Lisbon decided to sound out Grace about methods of incognito surfing having not completely discounted Jane's "the walls have ears" statement as complete nonsense.

She had noticed Jane taking advice from Grace and then a few days later Grace turned up with a package for Jane and they disappeared in the attic for a while. Lisbon did not bother asking Jane who wouldn't give a straight answer anyhow, she just asked the junior agent what was going on straight out. Grace who had a healthy respect for Lisbon and could see no need for secrecy anyhow just told her the whole story - she had bought some professional counter surveillance equipment for Jane so he could sweep the attic and his hotel for bugs. She had also apparently also got him some burner phones for emergencies.

"You know he sweeps your office when you are out Boss" Grace informed her.

"We have started doing the whole bullpen - we found one by Rigsby's desk a few days ago. Cho said it was probably the taco truck trying to find out where Rigsby was as their profits had suddenly gone down. Rigsby had a dodgy taco last week and has been trying out some alternative venues."

Lisbon did not know how to respond to this - she was part annoyed about not being told of this but more than anything she was kicking herself for not being the one to instigate this in the first place. It was her job to look out for them; she felt she had let them down somehow.

"It's no big deal Boss, you have enough to do with La Roche on your case, we're just being proactive."

Lisbon felt a surge of warmth towards the younger agent and she smiled and swallowed her pride "Thank you Grace - always nice to know I can rely on you. You're a real asset to the team."

Grace just beamed at her - Lisbon added with a twinkle in her eye "I take that back if you are remotely thinking of hugging me Agent Van Pelt."

The caseload was steady but nothing that was out of the routine - Jane had gone out with both Rigsby and Cho on some of the routine stuff, Jane and Lisbon had not had that much face to face time of late.

Lisbon had not forgotten their conversation of a few weeks ago and still fully intended to follow up on it at some stage. However she concluded some distance from the matter and even each other might clear their heads a bit.

She had to get back to Brenda Shettrick on some community reachout project so she ambled along to Brenda's office to discuss it further. After going through the motions with Brenda, she decided to try tapping Brenda for some information.

"I could not believe what happened with Hightower - never saw that coming did you Brenda?"

"No, I can't say I did Theresa."

"I really liked her but she never really spoke much about herself, you know like normally the new brooms come in bragging about their past successes. Hightower just came here and got on with the job made me wonder about her though."

Conspiratorially Brenda leant forward and started speaking in hushed tones "Well everyone knows about her marriage and _that_ fling – those poor children getting caught in the middle of it and goodness knows what will happen to them now.

I heard she was out of state for a while working in Austin not that I've ever had any news about what she was doing.

It's my job to scan the news for good news stories about our agents - you know the stuff "St Theresa thwarts serial rapist" but there has been nothing on the radar for Hightower for the last year before joining the CBI.

I could Google any member of your team and find many mentions of them on some case or other over the same time period 'Ravishing redhead reads rogue realtor his rights', 'The Cho-ffer has done it again', 'Handsome agent kops one for the team' and so on – and don't even mention Jane his 'Tragic Widower' makes him a press magnet. In comparison Hightower really has been a ghost in the machine - make of that what you will Theresa."

Lisbon cringed at the corny tabloid headlines then decided she had probed enough at this point and quite frankly found Shettrick fairly noxious company; there was something decidedly off about her, so she wound things up promising to get back to Shettrick with the finished report before long.

She made a mental note to catch up with one her old buddies from the academy who was stationed in Austin to see if she could glean any more information.

Grace had given her a few clues about incognito surfing although most of the geek talk passed her by and Grace was coming back to her with more information tomorrow - bless her!

Lisbon had picked up just enough to feel confident enough to try out the hide-my-ass web proxy.

When everyone had gone home Lisbon started to pick up on her research into Hightower, not wanting to use the normal channels she smirked as she typed in the URL, Lisbon proceeded to do some basic births marriages and deaths checks to build up a general picture of Hightower's background and connections.

Jane was feeling at a loose end, there was one thing that bothered him more than being nagged by Lisbon and that was not being nagged by Lisbon. He watched with detached amusement as she battled with La Roche, aware she would not have thanked him for trying to fight that battle for her.

The cases had been solved with relative ease; he had not upset too many people so things had gone a bit flat - after all vexing Lisbon was part of the fun. He had to some extent deliberately gone out with the other agents to avoid a possible grilling but the truth was he missed Lisbon when he was not working with her.

He had not really seen much of her and was not aware of any hot dates - the office was always abuzz when Lisbon had a date, so he could only assume she was catching up on paperwork or working on something. The latter thought filled him with a sense of dread because he could guess what she was working on - Oh Lisbon, why do you have be so stubborn?

It was either go home and re-arrange his sock drawer or check out Lisbon, the latter being infinitely more appealing and so he quietly made his way to her office then peered through the blinds to see what she was working on. Hidemyass - what the hell was that some new workout regime? Lisbon had nothing to worry about on that score, as all the men in the CBI would attest.

He nonchalantly wandered round to the doorway "Greetings Lisbon, still burning the midnight oil? Surely it must be time for you to go home now. 'The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure' "he waxed poetically.

"You and Cho been doing book club again - what is it the new romantics this week?" she quipped.

"Age of enlightenment actually Lisbon, a great period for the liberal thinkers and exchange of cultural views. The luminaries were committed to help people on the path of enlightenment **-** they sought to deliver individuals from restraints so that they could act freely in accordance with their natures."

Lisbon shuddered when she heard that recalling Rebecca Anderson's words about Red John. _"He's_ _on a mission of love and enlightenment. Without death, there's no life. Without darkness, there's no light. "_

"That all sounds eerily familiar - have you got a new lead Jane?"

"I could ask you the same thing Lisbon - I take it that this rather intriguing website is nothing to do with the latest exercise fad? The only exercise you need to do my dear is lifting a knife and fork occasionally."

Damn he must have looked through the blinds - she must remember to close them next time. "Just doing some research Jane - you knew I would, I made my position clear."

"Lisbon, do you have to - can you not let the matter drop?" Jane beseeched.

"Well you know the solution to that one" she said pointedly.

Jane sighed, he knew she was not going to drop this one but he could not help but admire her tenacity she was like a dog with a bone when she got her teeth into something. He was going to have to work out some compromise on this but was disinclined to discuss it further just now.

"Look it's late Lisbon, I bet you have not eaten again – fancy joining me for a quick bite? If I am honest I could do with the company." He knew appealing to her better nature would break down her defences, her kind heart would feel compelled to join him.

"Anyhow, you may be safer doing that sort of research out of the office. Come on get your coat on."

He held her jacket for her and softly arranged her hair to fall down her back before ushering her towards the exit gently guiding her with his hand on her back.

A pleasant evening ensued; they found a small diner Jane regaled her with stories of his carney life, steering her away from anything work related. He watched contentedly as Lisbon devoured her food with relish, swatting his hand when he tried to relieve her plate of a few fries – this bird like woman could certainly put her food away when she actually got round to eating.

Lisbon really was good company when she relaxed, witty, vivacious and decidedly easy on the eye. Needless to say despite her "I'll need feeding" comment Lisbon insisted on splitting the bill.

They made their way to their cars, Lisbon stopped and looked at Jane and simply said "Thank you."

"Whatever you are thanking me for you're welcome" he said.

"I know you have been sweeping my office for bugs – I should have had that covered. Thanks for looking out for me."

"Ah, Grace told you about that. I've told you before Lisbon, I will always have your back whether you like it or not."

She smiled gratefully before making her way to her car.

"Sleep well Theresa" Jane said softly, knowing full well that in all probability his little blood hound would resume her research as soon as she got home.

* * *

 **A/N** The hidemyass website actually exists – I guess it's geek humour.

I may have taken some artistic licence regarding Blake and the Age of Enlightenment, Blake was definitely of that era if not necessarily part of the movement. When I researched the Age of Enlightenment the phrases just jumped off the screen - it was Red John all over.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 -The Tangled Web**

 **A/N** This was only intended as a one shot so I will wrap this up shortly, possibly one more chapter at most.

* * *

Jane was starting to go back in his shell again; the incident with Dr Steiner had affected him. It was with some relief that Lisbon saw Jane's interest re-engaged when they crossed paths with Erica Flynn. Although Lisbon was irritated that all the men suddenly seemed to be walking round with their tongues hanging out, she knew Jane's primary interest was in matching his intellect against that of the formidable Erica Flynn but Lisbon could see that even he was not entirely immune to her exotic charms.

Illogical as it was Lisbon felt hurt to see this woman awaken that part of his psyche, even though she knew nothing would come of it. Damn that woman, she certainly had a way about her.

With Jane otherwise engaged, Lisbon decided to call her old buddy Dan O'Rourke from her academy days, he was with Austin PD and may know something.

 _"Well if it's not Theresa Lisbon the sexiest badass cop of the year"_ Dan greeted her _._

"Hi Danny, how are Donna and the kids" Lisbon replied quickly trying to get the conversation back on an even keel.

 _"They're doing great, Donna would love to see you again if you ever make it out to our neck of the woods. Hey, I was sorry to hear about Sam Bosco great agent - I know how close you two were. You know he had a real soft spot for you Theresa, Mandy guessed as much but figured Sam was in safe hands with a good catholic girl like you."_

"Yes, I miss Sam and still keep in contact with Mandy. Actually that leads on to part of the reason I'm calling you. Off the record did you ever come across a cop called Madeline Hightower in Austin? - we heard she spent some time out there."

 _"Oh, she's the cop that's gone AWOL- linked to Red John was she?" Dan responded._

"Dan this is purely speculative, I'm just following a hunch and need to keep this strictly on the down low."

 _"I did hear her name in passing but she was nothing to do with us, I assumed she was with the Feds. I can ask around if you want."_

"No, that's fine I don't want anyone to know we making enquiries about this. Thanks Danny – if you ever get out to California be sure to contact me."

 _"Sure thing Theresa."_

Lisbon returned to the case in hand, Jane was on a mission that woman had really got to him, he was affronted that Flynn thought he could not crack the case. Flynn was almost taunting him; she was so self assured - God Lisbon hated her.

Of course Jane got his woman figuratively speaking - he was almost childishly proud to have outwitted her and seemed to be more like his old self again.

Lisbon was reviewing what she had gleaned about Hightower; she had relatives in the area a sister and cousin. She needed to find out more about the estranged husband in case there was anything amiss there. Lisbon would start looking into their properties and finances; it was quite therapeutic doing a bit of good old fashioned police work building a comprehensive picture of Madeline Hightower.

When she returned to her office her laptop was missing, it could only be one person but what the hell did Jane want with a computer?

She went to recover it from the attic and seeing Jane's "dating" video on hold she could not help but play it. Jane's ideal woman speech was so touching, he must have really loved Angela – she doubted he would ever feel that way about another woman.

After Jane had recorded that section of the video he realised that although the words applied to Angela, in many respects they suited Lisbon as well - not that Lisbon would ever guess that.

He smiled at Lisbon's obvious jealously during the case and could not deny he was flattered by her response. He could not quite put his finger on what had happened with Erica, she had definitely awakened something in him that he had kept well buried. The physical stirrings he rationalised were just the normal reaction of a healthy man to an alluring temptress, they meant nothing to him but hoped he was going to be able to keep that side of him under control, it was not something he wanted to worry about at this stage of the game."

Dan still had fond memories of Lisbon, so despite her warnings he blundered in - although relations between the Feds and PD were frosty to say the least, there were a couple of good guys that hung out at local bar. He fell into easy conversation with them but the mood changed when he started talking about the cop that turned killer in Sacramento. Theresa was right there was something going on there; not wanting to upset Lisbon's plans he backed off and started talking about the Round Rock's new pitcher instead.

It was late afternoon, the case was closed so Jane was showing Rigsby a new trick - he really was the easiest person to hoodwink, in Jane's earlier life he would have been a perfect mark. Cho shook his head as yet again he saw Rigsby's wallet being lightened - when would Rigsby ever learn?

Jane broke off to examine a new text on his phone.

 _Stop digging now -danger M_

There was no number, so he could not respond but guessed Lisbon had dug too deep on something.

Lisbon had popped out on an errand so Jane decided to go and meet her - he could do with stretching his legs anyway.

Seeing her at the lights on the opposite side of the road he cheerily waved at her then to his horror he saw Lisbon suddenly lurch forward into the path of an oncoming truck. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as the truck screeched to a halt swerving to narrowly miss Lisbon, who was frozen with fear. Someone had tried to kill her.

He raced over to her ignoring the horns as weaved between the traffic; Lisbon was still rooted to the spot seemingly unable to move. She looked at him - "someone pushed me Jane, some goddamned son of a bitch tried to kill me."

Jane led her to the safety of the CBI car park and pulled her gently to him, stroking her back to calm her down he planted a chaste kiss on the top of her head to comfort her. That seemed to have the reverse effect; he felt her stiffen.

"Relax Lisbon" he cooed "It's not every day you see your best friend nearly mowed down, some outpouring of affection is perfectly natural.

I may seem like an automaton at times but a life without some human interaction is a life barely worth living" he added unguardedly.

She guessed this was an argument he had replayed many times since Angela had died and wondered how close he had come to ending it all.

Despite her brave face Lisbon was still shaky. Jane led her to his car and insisted on taking her home, calling Cho first to tell him what had happened and to see if they could pull up any CCTV footage, he knew the chances of identifying anyone were slim but they would go through the motions anyhow.

He chatted inconsequentially until they reached her home and insisted on coming in with her and besides they needed to talk when she had settled down.

Jane made some tea as she went upstairs to shower and change, then decided to do a precautionary scan in her living room for bugs, satisfied it was clean he felt safe to discuss things further.

It had been a while since Jane last visited, so he browsed round her sparse accommodation. In many ways it was just as impersonal as his long stay motel room; apart from a bookcase and a few photos it could hardly be classed as a home, not a fluffy cushion in sight.

Amongst the predictable books on criminal psychology a book on NLP caught his attention, he pulled it out and started to flick through it. NLP was dismissed as quackery by some and a "new age psycho-religion" by others he raised an eyebrow at the chapter titled the Doors of Perception, immediately recalling the Blake quotation.

" _If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern."_

He thought of Visualise and its doctrine of self realisation - it certainly fell into the category of new age psycho religion - was Visualise part of Hightower's secret organisation? It certainly had the potential to be.

Jane was finding all these coincidences unnerving especially the recurring Blake theme, there was a danger of conflating all these different theories for the sake of convenience.

He returned the book to the shelf and smiled at the thought of Lisbon brushing up her skills, he wondered whether she was trying to understand Jane's skill set or was dabbling herself.

He had to admit she had got better at reading him but assumed that was because he had let his guard down more with her - he had to chuckle at the idea of Lisbon trying to mentalise him.

Lisbon came down in casual attire, fresh faced and with her damp hair pulled back she looked younger and more vulnerable than usual.

"Ah Lisbon, I hope you don't mind, I have taken the liberty of ordering some food and inviting myself to join you - we have things to discuss."

They ate their meal in a companionable silence, Jane had ordered all Lisbon's favourites to tempt her appetite but Lisbon just picked at her food, still contemplating her close shave.

"Not too battle scarred I hope Lisbon – are you ready for a chat?" he enquired, knowing she would downplay any injuries despite being stiff and bruised.

"Fine Jane, though I would appreciate an early night. Can we get on with it?"

"OK. Just before your accident I had a text warning me of danger - what have you done Lisbon?"

She leant behind the sofa pulling out a mailing tube containing a bulletin board of the investigation to date, he smiled at her thoroughness. For all his showboating he knew their partnership was underpinned by good solid police work and that the background work was essential as the springboard for his own work.

"School project?" he inquired.

"Homework, the principal did not like me working in class" was the terse reply.

"Before we go into too much detail can you think of anything that could have triggered this attack?"

She outlined her activities, most of it was collating information and unlikely to alert any outside interest – that just left her conversations with Shettrick and Dan.

Jane shared Lisbon's distaste for Shettrick but listened with interest at the comments about Hightower's unusually low profile. He discounted Shettrick for now; there had been no need for her to volunteer the information she could have just stonewalled Lisbon.

"So who is this Dan O'Rourke?" he enquired, already guessing he was some poor sap who had been on the receiving end of Lisbon's love 'em and leave 'em policy.

"Old buddy from the academy totally harmless - just thought he might have come across Hightower, I did tell him to leave it alone."

"I suggest you check he has not been doing his own research - he could endanger himself as well as you" Jane pointedly responded.

She got out her phone and sent a quick text - the reply came through within minutes. "Oh you idiot Danny O'Rourke" she growled. You did not have to be a mentalist to work out O'Rourke had been sticking his nose in where he shouldn't have.

Jane studied the bulletin board in detail. Nice work, he raised an eyebrow when he saw that Lisbon knew about the lodge in Saratoga. Although Lisbon was exceptionally thorough, it worried him that if she could find this out it would not be long before Red John did.

Lisbon was tired and in no mood to beat about the bush so she decided to show her cards. "So how long had Hightower been working undercover?"

Damn, she was getting way too good at this game.

"You're just guessing Lisbon- there's nothing to back that up."

"You guess all the time – it's how you earn your keep."

"Guess? Please Lisbon, I would hardly call my valuable insights guesses" he protested.

"Informed guesses then" she retaliated. "From your reaction, I am 'guessing' that I am not that far from the truth – spill the beans Jane."

"Oh, trying to read me now are you – you'll never read me in a thousand years unless I want you to."

"Jane quit messing – this is serious. I nearly got killed today, I have a right to know what is going on."

Jane sighed heavily and decided to fill Lisbon in on some of the details.

"Look you are right you deserve some explanation, as you have already assumed Hightower was framed. She was involved in a covert operation and came across something that affected Red John – we don't know exactly what. Red John now has Hightower in his sights; the danger is that your investigations may inadvertently lead Red John to her – the Lodge in Saratoga was supposed to be a safe place

What would happen if your apartment had been broken in and they found this? You really need to destroy all your hard copies.

Though I would give your school project a 10/10, I am afraid it has to go.

I have a feeling the Hightower business will come to a head shortly, as your friend I implore you to put this to one side for now. No one not even the team can know about this."

The implications of what he had said slowly sank in; she would not want to endanger Hightower but knew they would have to come back to this before long.

"I know you are not telling me everything – I'll let it go for a few weeks, see how things develop but if you find anything out I need to be the first to know. Is that understood Jane?"

Little did they know how things were going to develop in the next few weeks.


	4. Chapter 4

If only it were a bad dream, the throbbing pain in her arm reminded her it was all too real. She cursed and bad temperedly reached out for the painkillers, even these tablets weren't strong enough to make Lisbon's pain go away. Her preferred choice of drinking herself into oblivion wasn't an option with the medication, so she tossed and turned through the night going over and over the events of the last few weeks.

Even the worst pulp fiction writer would never have come up with a plot as farfetched as this. She laughed as she recollected one minute the plucky heroine had a bomb strapped to her, then after trying on the bridesmaids dress for her girlfriend's wedding the fiancé shot her before being gunned down by the bride to. Not to be outdone Jane had his own heroic subplot going on, outwitting the perp he had saved the heroine then unearthed the spy in the camp before confronting and shooting the evil villain.

Not bad for a couple of days work eh?

Honestly you couldn't make it up!

The upshot was that she was on suspension for trying to prove the Director of the CBI was the traitor in the camp - well I guess he had a point there.

Meanwhile Jane was waiting trial for murder with the option of the death penalty still on the table. Oh crap!

She reached out for the water and swallowed the tablets – wishing she could make this all go away.

The painkillers would kick in soon and she would pull herself together, this wallowing in self pity felt good but was not getting them any further forward.

Eventually Jane had come clean about the Tyger Tyger business and told Lisbon about Hightower's suspicions - Cho being more astute that the others had confronted them, he had pretty much worked it out for himself but needed confirmation. At this stage there was nothing to be gained by dragging Rigsby and Van Pelt into that problem.

Hightower had confided in Lisbon at the ranch, perhaps knowing she faced an uncertain future and wanting to make sure her work wasn't in vain if anything happened to her. Hightower was going to disappear for now, she could not even trust WITSEC as she did not know how far Red John's influence spread and had made her own under the counter arrangements.

"Theresa - You and Patrick watch out for each other you're stronger together" Hightower advised her. Lisbon nodded warily wondering where this particular line of conversation was leading.

"I've seen the way you look at each other, when you think the other one isn't looking – maybe it isn't your time yet but sometime the damn will burst. Don't resist it Theresa – it's a wonderful thing when it happens."

Lisbon had blushed and looked anywhere but at Hightower – were they really that transparent and did Jane really feel the same way about her? Before she had time to follow that train of thought everything went distinctly pear shaped.

Lisbon had felt like a real schmuck thanking Bertram for visiting her in hospital and smiling sweetly at him [that might have been the medication] before he ruthlessly delivered the news of the team's suspension.

Bertram seemed to be on a mission to destroy them; he had all but sold Jane out to Ardilles, who had a few scores to settle with Jane himself and would pursue the case vigorously.

With all the evidence disappearing or being tampered with and the key suspect being murdered before they got to him, it all smacked of conspiracy – it begged the question was this Red John's network or something within law enforcement, assuming they were not one and the same.

It was bad enough that O'Laughlin had been Red John's man and Lisbon wondered how far the network had spread if even the FBI was affected.

In Jane's absence the literary Cho was freaking Van Pelt & Rigsby out by waxing poetic at every opportunity consoling Grace with the Blake quote "when a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend". Rigsby shifted awkwardly and thought Cho was getting way too much in touch with his feminine side, really not knowing how to cope with the new Cho.

Lisbon smiled, whatever the other two thought Cho was actually trying to send out signals to anyone eavesdropping that he was sympathetic to their cause to see if anyone approached him.

Nevertheless Lisbon did finally snap and threatened to put his poetry book where the sun don't shine but she cracked up when he impassively replied "he whose face gives no light, shall never be a star."

Jane's bail hearing had been and gone, he had opted to stay in jail rather than raise the bail - seriously how did he think he could raise a million dollars anyhow. Oh, ok that's how...

Having rescued the kidnapped girl while out on bail, unbelievably Jane worked his magic on the jury refuting the charge on the basis he could not have killed Timothy Carter as there was no such person. An emotional closing speech played to the gallery, hell even Lisbon was sniffing at the end and voila he was released.

The team were all ecstatic but the look on Bertram's face made Lisbon's blood run cold – there was real malice there. Lisbon told Jane how hard Bertram had tried to get him put away and they guessed he was a key part of whatever was going on. It was too much of a coincidence for Carter to be sitting on the table close by in the mall.

Lisbon was reluctantly re-instated after another of Jane's schemes -they agreed there was little they could do at this juncture other than be vigilant – they had to carry on to all intents and purposes as if everything was ok.

Nothing confidential would be discussed in the bullpen and they would step up their security checks. The whole team carried burners now so they could have a secure communication channel, although Lisbon was still the only one who knew Red John was still alive.

Jane & Lisbon were closer than ever, they still bickered like an old married couple.

"Well Jane, I really hope you have finally learnt something from all this" Lisbon said in her best school ma'am voice.

Jane looked at her seriously and said with all sincerity "Lisbon, I have indeed learned a valuable lesson from this and intend to mend the error of my ways."

"Really Jane - I am so pleased to hear that, what have you learned?"

"Don't get caught, Lisbon – serious mistake" he quipped then ducked to avoid the stapler hurtling across the room.

"So Lisbon, what's with the self help books?" Jane teased.

"Self help? She looked confused.

"Yeah, the NLP for dummies – you trying to get rid of me - fancy a bit of consulting do you?"

"Only in my dreams" she said.

"So you do dream about me – do tell." Jane was enjoying making her squirm.

Lisbon felt herself blushing, if only he knew. Sheep dip! Was he reading her now?

"You're so full of it Jane."

He flashed his megawatt smile at her then retired to her couch. Lisbon was smiling as she got back to her paperwork, enjoying the closeness she and Jane now enjoyed.

They were going to face some tough times in the months ahead but having someone you could trust at your side made all the difference – well until the jackass's next scheme backfired.

* * *

 **A/N** Just a short chapter to wrap this up. Without going too far off track it seemed an appropriate time to wind this up. I had not planned to write more than one chapter and could not see a viable way to take this forward from here.

I hope the final chapter is not too flippant – trying to précis events of the end of S3, which I loved despite the incongruity of it all, made it all sound like an episode of the 70's series Soap.

Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on this.


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